Stoppages from wages/hours

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

I’ve read quite a few posts on here that mention not getting paid for stuff.

POA, breaks, etc.

From my own point of view . . . . . . . . .

(I tramp btw)

I expect, in fact demand, that I’m paid from the time my card goes in, until the time it comes out, to the nearest next quarter of an hour.

But in return, I don’t insist in having “my time” if would be better to push on and have my break either split or on a bay.

(I don’t get in the box - unless they have forty quids to spare :wink: )

I thought most firms had realised by now that it’s bad form to be clawing back pennies at a time :unamused: Mainly because most drivers (or at least, those of a similar mind to me) will have it back in other ways, and more-fold than the three quarters of an hour - for example.

Are there many that loose money to this ■■

Is there anyone that actually gets the POA time deducted from their wages ■■?

2

Apart from breaks,I get paid from the moment I enter a customers premises,until the time I leave,whether I incur poa or not.

And yes,your right,if they try to subtract anything from me,I’ll ALWAYS get it back another way,with interest.

Ken.

3

Only money i get taken off is 45mins for a break, no matter how much POA i do.

If any company i worked for tried to take money off for POA, i’d walk out the door. Espec the last job i was doing with a supermarket, doing 15hour shift three times a week and usually at least 5 of that POA.

Infact done a shift before delivering to three RDC 13 hour shift, only 3 hours driving rest was mainly POA apart from maybe an hour in total other work. If a company tried to pay me 4hours wages or even 8 hours for doing a 13 hour shift i wouldnt be there long.

Some companies supposedly use tachographs as a kinda time sheet, so if you don;t use POA and used break it would automatically be deducted. Never worked for these companies but worked for companies who insist on using POA rather than breaks all the time.

Even shifts where ive had to take two 45mins to go up to 10hours driving i’ve never had the second 45mins taken off.

4

I am paid a salary for 45 hours a week but we never do any where near that much!!!
Past jobs I have been paid a day rate, if you worked 15 mins or 15 hours the rate was the same.
Although now we are encouraged to drive more economicaly, which we do as there is no need to fly around anymore…

5

dont use tachographs on this side of the world, and only need to use logbooks when going 100kms or more away from the depot (city), but my employer would ideally like us to take our breaks while sitting in queues at RDC’s and the like

my argument is that if i cant have 30 minutes uninterrupted rest, then its not a break.

they deduct 30 mins off the end of each days pay whether you take the break or not, so i make it my business every day to make sure i take 30 minutes of doing nothing work related, that includes moving the truck an inch, or touching anything to do with any load, maybe ill sit in the truck and read the paper, maybe ill have a nap, maybe ill go for a walk or maybe ill sit down the beach and have a milkshake, either way im not getting paid for that half hour so its all mine.

6

beatun what flavour milkshake would that be ■■?

7

dambuster:
I expect, in fact demand, that I’m paid from the time my card goes in, until the time it comes out, to the nearest next quarter of an hour.

i actually feel you’re being a little OTT there. I have no problem with them taking a 45 minute deduction, after all for your break you are free to do what you want. What i really and truly dont understand is those who stick it on bed whilst they are tipping, by which i mean are in the back with a pallet truck or whatever.I certainly wouldnt work for a firm who deducted POA from your money though, what on earths that about?

dambuster:
Mainly because most drivers (or at least, those of a similar mind to me) will have it back in other ways, and more-fold than the three quarters of an hour - for example.

of course, i would do the same if they decided they were going to be arsey. there are a million and one ways to ‘recover’ the lost wages, such as laybys, running at 50 on the motorway for miles on end, sticking to 40, etc etc.

8

Olog Hai:

dambuster:
I expect, in fact demand, that I’m paid from the time my card goes in, until the time it comes out, to the nearest next quarter of an hour.

i actually feel you’re being a little OTT there. I have no problem with them taking a 45 minute deduction, after all for your break you are free to do what you want. What i really and truly dont understand is those who stick it on bed whilst they are tipping, by which i mean are in the back with a pallet truck or whatever.I certainly wouldnt work for a firm who deducted POA from your money though, what on earths that about?

I see what you’re saying about being a little OTT but, similar to beattun, it used to depend on “how” I take/took my break.

My argument being . . . . If there was a proper canteen or what I would call proper “facilities” then it could be viewed as OTT. However, most of the time I’d be still in the truck. Being tipped, or in a layby, or outside a customer’s premises then as far as I was concerned, I was still “at work” albeit not actually “working” BUT that would purely be to satisfy the driver’s hours regulations, and not something for my benefit.

dambuster:
Mainly because most drivers (or at least, those of a similar mind to me) will have it back in other ways, and more-fold than the three quarters of an hour - for example.

of course, i would do the same if they decided they were going to be arsey. there are a million and one ways to ‘recover’ the lost wages, such as laybys, running at 50 on the motorway for miles on end, sticking to 40, etc etc.

I remember a telephone (well . . . radio) call I received one morning when I worked for Dodds…

“Where are you ? How long you gonna be ? The day driver’s waiting for his motor”

“I’m on Woodhall Services having the hour you stop out of my wages”

(The yard was about 4 or 5 miles from Woodhall)

“See you in ten minutes then !! !! !!”

“No. See you in about an hour”

“Click”

I’d had my “break from driving” during the night as I was being tipped. This was the hour they stopped out of my wages.

9

A good few years ago, got talking to a driver and he told me his boss deducted £1 a night out of his wages to cover the cost of the diesel for the night heater, and he’d also tried to take money off them for the use of the bunk in the cab!!
Can’t remember the name of the firm but they delivered furniture to retail parks in yellow 7.5 tonners and were based in or near Nottingham, not seen them for a while thinking about it, probably can’t get drivers for some reason :unamused: :unamused:

10

if my boss started making any deductions then we would leave. it’s that simple. anyone who treats there staff in that manner are not worth working for.
Don’t be soft. when you ring up for another job ask what he’s paying then tell him your worth more and he’ll give it to you as he will think he may miss out on the worlds number 1 driver.

11

limeyphil:
if my boss started making any deductions then we would leave. it’s that simple. anyone who treats there staff in that manner are not worth working for.
Don’t be soft. when you ring up for another job ask what he’s paying then tell him your worth more and he’ll give it to you as he will think he may miss out on the worlds number 1 driver.

Or he may equally say ‘‘where is the number for that fellow from Krakow?’’ - They have a lot of cheap labour to pick from these days due to our wonderful New Labour government.

12

There is a company with big green Daf`s who work on salad stuffs, and a driver told me they actually have the night heaters taken out when ordering new vehicles…how tight is that…

Olog, what dont you understand about drivers who put it on bed when on a bay, we get paid over 30 grand a year + overtime + nights out, so what suits us is down to us…i use the bed for whatever reason i want to, as and when it suits me…it would save me time later in the day when i dont want to park…
We are paid for every single minute of every day, as we are all salaried.

13

truckyboy:
There is a company with big green Daf`s who work on salad stuffs, and a driver told me they actually have the night heaters taken out when ordering new vehicles…how tight is that…

And guess who wouldn’t be workng for them,if they were offered the job■■?

However,if the drivers were expected to night out in a truck with no night heater,wouldn’t H&S law cover somethng about that?

Ken.